53 weeks of photography

Perder la fé

recienmudada — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 19:05:37 -0300

Saqué muchas fotos y no sé si es que fue todo demasiado documental y poco creativo, estar en ciudades re lindas y no sacar ni una foto a un transeúnte, a un edificio, a una flor, que volví como cansada de las fotos (del proceso? fueron 14 días intensos de sacar, elegir, subir, con un proceso mucho más cuidadoso que el que suelo tener, y mucho más exigente en tiempos y esas cosas) y sin ganas de volver a sacar, sin ganas de hacer los cursos que tenía pensado hacer. Y además como que ahora no me siento más capaz de sacar fotos lindas. Capaz sólo tengo que descansar un rato. O salir rápido a sacar fotos lindas, para recuperar la fe en mi ojo, y en mi visión y en mi técnica, y volver a ser feliz detrás de los lentes.

Esto debería ser un post en vez de un mail, pero ando más ganas de escribir en castellano.

Gracias, adios.

[this is an email I sent to my bro & sis today. The 3 of us enjoy a lot taking pictures, and we even share a photoblog. I eventually decided I’d post this, dispite of the language :) ]

A lot of blabla

recienmudada — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 22:49:31 -0300

I’ve just realised I haven’t posted any new pictures for a while. It’s weird, since I’ve been shooting a lot! I need to find some time to pick up a few and upload them :)

Two weeks of (hard) work

recienmudada — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 22:46:57 -0300

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to join a bus which would tour around Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay with the purpose of meeting the local people of each city working on free culture, free software, freedom of speech, and many other (great, imho) topics.

On the bus I’d eventually help with some free software talks, and the idea was also that I could also take pictures of the activities held at each location. If possible, I’d write some articles for the blog, telling how things were going on the bus.

I must say: I enjoy a lot taking pictures, but working as press was exhausting! First problem: I spent all the day with the rest of the crew, taking pictures but also participating of the activities that we offered. But as soon as we went back to the hotel, I’d start with my job: choosing and uploading pictures, and hopefully, writing something for the blog.

While everyone was having a beer… I was having one too, but also had stuff to do ;) I have to say: it was tiring :( Also, the poor internet connection at the places we used to stay made things *really* difficult. At the end I was happy if I could at least delete the worst photos. I still need to upload some of the pictures I took :/ (only a couple from the activities, but several from the social gatherings that took place during the trip)

So, all in all the trip was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed taking pictures (I should have been less coward and more risk taking, maybe next time ;)), but it was a hard work too. I think I’ll start charging for this kind of things, from now on ;) (if someone is willing to pay ^^)

Some good news

recienmudada — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 11:08:21 -0300

- I finally found the aperture sets for the babylens. Yay! :D

- I took the films to the shop to see if they could be saved. Good news is that the film I exposed using the Retina was ok :D The bad news is that the film I (thought had) used with the oktomat was never exposed :-/ After some digging in the internet, I found several people reporting the oktomat is not strong enough to pull the film out of the cassette, and thus, pictures are never exposed. Some propose to waste the first 3/4 frames making sure it does roll properly, other suggest taking the film out of the cassette in a dark room so the machine needs to make less effort.

I’m quite disappointed by this piece of information, but I really want to see some pictures taken with it, so I’ll keep on trying :)

Also: reading reviews I’ve met the golden half. Guess who wants one ;)

Learning to delete

recienmudada — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 14:34:40 -0300

It seems I’m learning to judge better/quicker or, at least, to be less attached to my photos. This last week I’ve been deleting a lot of pictures with no mercy (almost 15gb of pictures to go through might be helping :P)

With some luck, I’ll be finishing this very weekend uploading everything to flickr :)

Idiot me

recienmudada — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 02:21:00 -0300

I’ve just realised that I brought a used film (THIS film!) with me through this trip, which means it’s been under airport’s x rays TWICE.

I feel pretty, pretty bad. I *really* wanted to see those pics :( I’m such a fool :(

*UPDATE* I’m afraid that the film on the oktomat has been damaged too. It’s so obvious I’m not used neither to film cameras nor to travelling on planes it’s sad ¬¬

Going analogic

recienmudada — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 02:19:48 -0300

Remember I fell in love with film cameras? Well, in my second visit to Federico’s house seems I earned his trust and he lent me his Kodak Retina :) I also got a free color ASA 100 film (kidding, I’m planning to return a similar unused brand new film :)).

I had both of them ‘resting’ on my table for almost a (very busy) week, and today I finally thought I could use it. I had never loaded film before, even thou we owned several film cameras at home when I was a kid. So: How do you even start?

Well, it wasn’t so difficult, after all. I hope I actually loaded the right way, or otherwise I’m wasting a complete film on this :-/ (I don’t know why, but although my family owned a few cameras in the past, I never got to load a film by myself - Hi Mom)

Shooting with this very good looking camera can be a bit tricky. Its selenium light meter is no longer working, so it has a chart attached with some rough ideas of what settings should be used depending on the ambient light conditions. I hope I’m guessing OK :O

After that, you need to try to see through the view finder. This can be tricky too: it’s a bit dusty and maybe has some fungus, not sure. One thing is certain: it ain’t clear and focusing can be a bit difficult :O

But… it doesn’t end there: the winder does not fly back smoothly. It bounces a bit before flying back, but you still need to treat it nicely :) Of course, the expose counter does not work either. And before removing the film, you need to action the rewind knob manually (it has nothing to help you turning the film again into the casette).

All in all, it sounds like a pain in the ass. But, as a matter of fact, I’m enjoying a lot taking pictures with it :D <3

(after a long time)

I’ve finally finished shooting this film. The camera has been travelling with me a lot in my bag (whenever I carried one) and I’ve been occasionally when I felt I had a ‘retina shot’. I hope pictures come out good, despite of the lack of light meter :D

Enjoying some equipment

recienmudada — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 01:44:06 -0300

I’d previously used my tele lens to shoot stars and sky landscapes mostly. These last days I’ve been using it to shoot some wildlife, and I must say it works like charm :D

Along with the camera body it’s a bit heavy, so when I want to -patiently- wait for something to happen, after a bit I start noticing :/ With some luck, I get to grow some muscle too ;)

Also, my new fish eye optic has been a source of endless joy :D I’m enjoying the scout lens a lot as well: I’m still getting used to shoot manual all the time, and it lets me focus (nodge nodge :P) on just that. Its usage is quite easier than the others (though might be more boring after a bit, or at least not as flexible).

OTOH I’m sad today since I’ve lost the aperture disks for my fisheye and soft focus optics (along with the scout pouch) :( Seems it dropped from my bag somewhere while shooting whales on the beach, and I didn’t even notice until several hours and kilometers later :/ Boo for me.

The problem of choice

recienmudada — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 12:45:56 -0300

I’m leaving tonight and, once again, carrying everything with me is impossible (and undesirable, too :)). So, I’ve been thinking what to carry with me.

I’ve finally made up my mind: no flash, no tripod, my canon 70-300mm IS USM, lensbaby scout with fisheye, plastic and soft focus optics. It’s a weird mix, I know. But I’m confident it will be the best one for the kind of things I intend to photograph in the next few days. Stay tuned waiting for the results! :)

Consumism never ends

recienmudada — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 23:40:54 -0300

And just when I thought I had everything I wanted/needed, and I was starting to plan on spending all my future money on classes and trips, I -sadly- found out that my dear Manfrotto tripod (or head, at least) cannot handle my new camera with my new telephoto lens. The manual says it handles up to 1kg, which for my old canon t1i and my previous canon 55-250mm lens was just on the edge (~500 +390gr), but my new gear weights 780gr+630gr (for canon 60d and canon 70-300mm IS USM respectively) :-/

I’ve been doing some research and I think I’ll go for this head and these legs as soon as I find someone who can bring them for me :)

Planning

recienmudada — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 23:18:33 -0300

I’ve just finished planning all my classes for this semester and it looks I’m gonna be pretty busy. That’s great: if everything goes as expected, by the end of this year I’ll have tons of new pictures, and, hopefully, I’ll have learnt a lot of new things :)

Wish me luck with the my always tight schedule! :)

Fish eye

recienmudada — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 16:41:00 -0300

After a lot of waiting, I finally got my new fisheye lens. It’s actually a Lensbaby combo (http://lensbaby.com/lenses-scout). The lens itself looks quite sturdy and better built then its siblings (muse, composer pro). Manual focusing is still a bit tricky for me (and even more at night!) but I still liked this picture (at least for its composition ;)).

I still have to practice a lot, of course. But now I’m on my way! :P

Juggling around

recienmudada — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 18:41:00 -0300

Juggling around

I had been chasing this blondie colored and modern twin of...

recienmudada — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 17:51:24 -0300

I had been chasing this blondie colored and modern twin of famous Diego de la Vega throughout the conference, trying to be discrete. It seems I failed miserably: I was pointing at him and he suddenly turned and looked at me just when I was hitting the shutter.

A beautiful pair of spiral stairs with a double helix

recienmudada — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 17:41:42 -0300

looking down

detail

looking up

A beautiful pair of spiral stairs with a double helix

Taking pictures with low light and a slow shutter speed is not...

recienmudada — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 17:38:43 -0300

Taking pictures with low light and a slow shutter speed is not always a bad idea ;)

I’ve been searching for girls to take pictures to practice...

recienmudada — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 00:39:00 -0300

Muse + double glass

Muse + double glass

Composer Pro + plastic

Composer Pro + sweet 35

I’ve been searching for girls to take pictures to practice some portraiting but my friends seem to be too shy to play the game of being a model. Astrid, on the other hand, loves it. It was so funny taking pictures of her!

I asked her to bring some hats and props to play with, and she did her homework :) She had also plenty of ideas, so I barely had to direct her.

Then again, focusing with the lensbaby can be a pain in the ass :) shooting on a cloudy afternoon (almost evening) wasn’t the best lightning situation either, but I’m confident I’ll become better at using those manual focus bastards :P

In the meanwhile, I’m sure Astrid will help me with another sessions :)

These are some of the shots I liked the most

The other picture: This is the background of a picture I took to...

recienmudada — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 21:34:05 -0300

The other picture: This is the background of a picture I took to a friend. Focusing with the lensbaby is hard, so she was pretty out of focus, but I discovered this other picture and liked it a lot xD (isn’t it the header-of-a-wordpress-blog kind of picture?)

The little russian toy arrived!

recienmudada — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 14:23:08 -0300

Today I came back from a job interview and I found, on my desk, a BIG package with my name in it. Strangely, the package had a label with said “little package” (?) and in the customs field i could read “used camera” Oh yeah!

So, after a lot of de-packaging (I must admit it was strongly tied up in a lot of stuff to make sure it wouldn’t break while travelling, I got my “new” Lubitel 166B. It’s the first camera I own with two lenses, the first that uses medium format film, and the first that doesn’t have a lightmeter built in.

I’ve already downloaded the manual of the camera, and looked at a clarifying scheme that shows the use of each button. I can’t wait to go to the local store to buy some film! :D

A day at the Chinese neighborhood

recienmudada — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 09:32:00 -0300

Yesterday a good friend of mine who lives in Córdoba was here in Buenos Aires for the day, so we went to the Chinese neighborhood to try out some foods we both had read about. It was a *beautiful* day, and after wandering through the (amazing) shops and buying some teas and stuff, we rested a bit on the grass in the park nearby. I had taken my camera with me, so I took the chance to try my new babylenses (plus, I used my new oktomat for the first time, but I can’t show the results here - not yet :)).

Canon 50mm f/1.8

Babylens Muse with Double Glass optic

Babylens Composer Pro with Plastic optic